Silver Eye

Silver Eye is thrilled to present an afternoon with artist Aaron Turner, on the occasion of his new book Moves from the Archive (Sleeper Studio 2023). Moves from the Archive is the latest expression of a long-term project, Black Alchemy in which he creates and photographs physical tableau through which he explores and repositions figures in Black history, working with abstraction and ideas from music.

Aaron will share his work, in conversation with Kilolo Luckett (Alma|Lewis).

Don't miss this opportunity to hear directly from one of the most original and innovative artists working with photography today. Aaron will also be bringing a selection of photobooks that have influenced him to open up discussion.

"Aaron R. Turner’s Moves From The Archive is a richly layered book that pulls from a wide array of ideas, influences and traditions. The photographs, which are a part of the larger and ongoing project Black Alchemy, re-present cultural and familial images, exploring them as both subject matter and material. Using the studio as a space for construction, Turner employs cut paper, projected and natural light, black cloth, mirrors, paint, oil sticks, cellophane and packaging materials for analog photography as building blocks for his images. The result is a formal language that exists in dialogue with legacies of nonrepresentational art in both photography and painting. Turner also challenges assumptions about what it means to be a Black artist working within this tradition – drawing a parallel between racial passing and abstraction.

"This book highlights Turner’s varied approach to image making, fusing elements of still life, appropriation and painting to comment on the complex nature of Black American history and representation. Blackness takes on a multitude of meanings in this work. It simultaneously operates as identity, materiality, metaphor, history and color. It is also an allusion to the darkroom, where many of Turner’s photographs are made.

"In Moves From The Archive, images, forms and materials are constantly shifting, being recombined and reconstituted in different and surprising ways. This fluidity in the studio gives the work an incredibly dynamic quality, but also speaks to the complexity of the histories and ideas that Turner pays homage to in his work. This process of rearrangement is an archival practice, one that productively undermines notions of authority typically associated with Archives. At its core there is a questioning in this work that seeks to challenge the portrayal of historical narratives and identities as monolithic rather than diverse. But there is also a deep expression of reverence too - for Blackness (in all its forms), photography, light and the myriad people who have left an indelible mark on Turner himself. It is at this intersection that Moves From the Archive achieves its lasting power and multiplicity." - Sleeper Studio

Participating Artist

1. Aaron R. Turner is a photographer and educator based in Arkansas. He uses photography to pursue personal stories of people of color in Arkansas and Mississippi Deltas. Turner was a 2018 Light Work Artist in Residence at Syracuse University and received an MFA from Rutgers University.